Tonight I had a much needed ride however after getting out to the barn later then expected I didn’t have much choice but to ride bareback. That pretty much eliminated riding everyone but Black.
She was a mud bug so I grabbed the Furminator and went to town. OMG is she shedding. I think this is wonderful because I think this is a sign she’s getting healthy from the inside out. I threw her boots on and away we went.
When she’d try to turn for home I’d straighten her back up by gently persuading her hindquarters with my crop to move the opposite direction. She didn’t much care for that but it didn’t take long for her to decide trying to turn fast and run home wasn’t an option. Since that was out of the question her next battle tactic was ditch diving.
I put my hand in the center of the reins and took in a nice grip of mane. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t micromanaging her at all. If she got too far to the left I’d politely ask her back but there was a ditch on the right so I decided she was capable of keeping herself out of it. She took me over to it and headed straight down. I think she was a bit taken back that I let her do it so I just asked her to keep moving on in the original direction we were heading. She soon came up out of the ditch and back onto the road. I’m not sure how many times she tried taking me in the ditch but when she realized it didn’t really bother me she quit trying and decided trotting would be a better idea.
Well unfortunately for her trotting is the best thing we can do so I allowed her to trot as fast as she wanted to. This really didn’t last very long at all. When we got to the corner where we typically turn around I decided to go a bit further since she was feeling so well. When we rounded the corner she decided it was time to pick up the pace again. Once she went back into a walk she was so busy gaulking that she slipped into a shallow ditch a few times and caught herself off guard.
When I decided it was ok to turn around I turned the opposite direction she normally wants to go (turned clockwise or to the right) which put us on the left side of the road. When I tried to move her to the right side she became a bit stubborn about the ordeal and reminded me of a barrel horse how they run sideways into the arena. I finally got her where I wanted her and we headed back home. At the corner heading back she decided sideways would work again. During this I managed to drop my favorite crop. I’m not the best at getting on bareback so I decided I’d just have to come back for it.
The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful. We trotted some (this time only when asked) and she felt really nice. Luckily for me someone picked up my crop and handed it to me just shy of us getting home so I didn’t have to go back for it.
The trimmer comes on Tuesday for her third trim. I can’t wait to see what he thinks of her feet.
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